Saturday, August 3, 2013

If I were a sociologist, I'd solve the mystery of why carts are abandoned in parking lots, when the corral is 10 feet away. Or the greater puzzle of why we walk past said carts, go into the store, and get a fresh one. Why do we step over a piece of clothing that has fallen off the rack at a store? Further, why do we speed up to keep a car from pulling in front of us when lanes merge?

Are we overly righteous or underly moral?

I silently judged the person that left their cart to die at Target, but then reprimanded myself a few minutes later when I realized that I could have fixed the problem by putting it away - and didn't. Today, at TJ Maxx, I fixed one sweater that was askew on the hanger, but not the next five. I let two cars go in front of me while waiting at a red light, but not the third.

Where do we draw the line?

You see, I'm a stickler for putting a plastic divider down after I've put all my groceries on the conveyor belt, but sometimes leave my drink cup in the movie theater after the show is over. I wipe down the equipment at the gym after I use it, but will pick my nose and then shake someone's hand.

I think the answer is in the quote by H. Jackson Brown, Jr. “Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking.”

Of course, nowadays, someone is always looking, which is all the more reason to behave. Because you never know when the cart police will knock at your door, and justice will be swift.